Tag Archives: singapore

I miss travel days, thus I decided to continue my travel story in SG. I think my followers have been wondering and waiting when I will continue my story or whether I will really continue it.

On day 04, it was on Saturday, our family went to Orchard Road, the famous shopping street in Singapore. Big malls were on each side of the street. Almost all malls are exclusive, full of luxurious boutiques which provide branded clothings from shirts, dresses, shoes, bags, and its accessories. Wecan find ION Orchard, Nge Ann City (Takashimaya), Tang Plaza, Paragon Mall, Lucky Plaza, Wheelock Place, Isetan, and many hotels also nearby.

The pedestrians are indeed wide and very comfortable for people to walk. Some street vendors are also available, like the famous ice cream uncle (ice cream block in between two slices of bread). Along the street, we will also find street mucisians, art performance or at sometime magicians with their magic skills.

Even the pedestrian crossing bridge is clean, we can see orchard road from above. If we don’t like to climb the stairs, we can use crossing tunnel down below the street. The tunnel goes also to MRT Orchard Station. What more amazing is the crossing tunnel in the intersection road. I got confused where to go up in between Isetan, Wheelock Place, Ion Orchard, and Tang Plaza.

The information for tourists is available in tourists’ info kiosk in a form of ticket cube. I found that this is only temporary kiosk, thus it may not be on that point anymore in another time. The ticket cube is interesting, it have lights which show different colors, one color at a time: pink, purple, blue, and green. And if we show our passports, we will get some merchandize inside. It was very interesting to me. You can do many things around the street, just sitting, walking eating, shopping, photo making, from day till night, and it is quite safe there.

Definitely I will visit Singapore again. It is much recommended to visit, despite its expensiveness. But when, with whom, do not know yet.

Today I received some new coins. The coins were from Suriname. Mrs. Ririn Dina, my ‘mother’ in architecture department brought them for me. It made me excited to collect more and more coins.

Suriname coins

Besides Suriname’s coins, she brought also european coins from the change which she received in Schipol – Netherland airport, and the coins reminded me of Germany 🙂 because some of them had The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin picture at the back.

Euro coins

Couple of months before, my friend in Singapore had sent me some coins which I had asked, to complete my 2013 new series of singapore coins collection. And yes, finally my SG’s coins are complete. Looking forward to get more new coins, even from places I have never been. I will need to buy coins album later, since my coins are getting many. And these are the SG coins on the top of its brochure from one of Singapore museums in China Town.

It is kinda busy week..but it is time for the sequel of my travel notes 🙂

On the second day, we went to Sentosa Island. From Harborfront MRT, inside Vivo City Mall, we had to go to level 3 and used monorail to across the way to Sentosa Island. Other options would be by foot, or by bus. Considering the quickest time, we chose Monorail with 4SGD/person.

In Sentosa Island there are 3 stations: Waterfront Station, Imbiah Station, and Beach Station. The Waterfront Station is where the Resorts World Sentosa, Casino and Universal Studios located. Imbiah Station is where Merlion Walk, The Big Merlion Statue and way to the Tiger Sky Tower. The Beach Station will connect you to three beaches available in Sentosa: Siloso Beach, Palawan Beach and Tanjong Beach. The three beached are connected in the same coastline.

The third day, our trip headed to Garden by the Bay, located next to Marina Bay. From Marina Bay MRT station, we can use bus 400, or simply use Bayfront MRT and walk across the bridge to reach Garden by the Bay. The Garden by the Bay give many chances to explore variety of garden, from: the Supertrees – vertical plant display with 22 meter high OCBC Skyway; Flower dome and Cloud Forest conservatories; and Heritage garden: Chinese garden, Malay Garden, Colonial Garden. Besides, there is a dragonfly lake, with beautiful scenery you can see while walking or sitting along the boardwalk.

During nights, there will be a spectacular light show at the Marina Bay. Night scene at Baywalk will give a skyline display of the high-rise building. Helix bridge at the Bayfront is also interesting, with its lighting and street performance like magic and music show by local people.

This year I had the chance to visit Singapore (SG) again. After saving money for some years, my sister and I finally can afford to pay for our family trip. It was our first family trip abroad. Thanks to God which made this possible (with low budget airlines, free time, and everything).

Actually, this is my second visit after my visit in 2004, which was paid by my previous office work. I was only able to visit SG for 2 days that year. There were rapid changes after almost 10 years. The new things to see now include: Marina Bay, SG Flyer, Garden by the Bay, and Universal Studio in Sentosa Island.

For those who want to visit Singapore with limited budget, I have some advices:

1. Search for low budget airlines.

2. Search for cheapest hotel.

3. Find cheap place to eat, usually in Little India, canteen for workers at mall, or hawkers (street food).

4. Buy souvenirs in cheap place: China Town or Serangoon Road. We have compared with Bugis Street, China Town was still cheaper.

6. Bring empty bottled water, so that you can refill your empty bottle wherever there is a drinking fountain, because water is very expensive in SG. The cheapest one I found was 1SGD per 1,5l water.

Our 7 days trip itinerary was so busy. We did not expect that, since most people who went to SG only spend around 3-4 days. Seven days was too much according to some of my friends. Yet, till now, we still feel that those 7 days seemed too short, flew away without notice. Our itinerary for Singapore trip in 7 days:

We stayed in Little India area, which I found to be cheapest area in Singapore from the hotels and food. It was interesting to see different part of SG, because India people still maintained their culture, from the food, music, and also their religious place.

Our first itinerary was Merlion Park. Of course this is a must when you visit Singapore. What else would you expect from this Lion Country? From Raffles Place MRT station to Merlion Park, here is the list of what you will see: